Laser Cutter

The user loads whatever he/she wants to print/cut into a program which will then send commands to the laser itself. These commands tell the laser where to position the laser head (the part of the laser which does the actual cutting).

There are two ways the laser can be used, rastering and vectoring.

Rastering is generally used when one wants to engrave an image into the material but not cut all the way through it. The laser uses low power and high speed to make a series of passes, each one cutting a bit more of the image.

Vectoring is generally used to completely cut through the material. Typically using high power and low speed, the laser makes one pass, cutting the shape out of the material.